I am extremely fortunate to be attending what is certain to be one of best conferences of the year, TEDMED 2009, being held at the Hotel del Coronado next week from Oct 27 – 30. For starters, if you are familiar with TED, you know attendees are always in for a treat. To be honest, I have attended only one TED event in the past, TEDxBoston this past July, and I was simply blown away by the degree of innovative thinking, caliber of presentations, and passion of those involved. (Note: TED and TEDMED are independent organizations, which share the same founder, Richard Saul Wurman.)

So after a five-year hiatus, Marc Hodosh and Richard Saul Wurman are re-launching TEDMED focused squarely on remarkable people, their ideas, and their inventions in the fields of medicine and health care. I expect the TEDMED sessions to be nothing short of inspirational and uplifting, because the common underlying mission is to improve quality and length of life in ways and to degrees that many technology products and services simply cannot. And there couldn’t be a more relevant time as President Obama and Congress work to bring a historic health care reform package to the finish line. A total of 54 speakers will open the minds of TEDMED attendees to the world of opportunities and possibilities in this fascinating field. Below is a small peek at what’s in store, a very short list of speakers and their speech topics:

Ezekiel Emanuel, Special Advisor for Health Policy, OMB, Executive Office of President Obama –Can We Reform Health Care In America?

Dean Kamen, President, DEKA Research & Development – Can A Prosthesis Be Better Than The Real Thing?

I’ll end on a slightly more personal note. Aside from the reasons already mentioned, I expect to find TEDMED especially refreshing. As someone who spends a great deal of time staying abreast of the latest digital strategies and communication tools (social media alone warrants a significant personal investment), I don’t have much time to attend product-oriented conferences. Don’t get me wrong. I became a B2C marketer for the opportunity to directly interact and engage, build relationships, earn trust, etc. But sometimes by being so customer-centric, I don’t fully appreciate many of the extraordinary breakthroughs in modern science and technology, or the brilliance behind them.

Note: TED and TEDMED are independent organizations, which share the same founder, Richard Saul Wurman.